Patient Satisfaction and Healthcare Utilization Using Telemedicine in Liver Transplant Recipients.

BACKGROUND: Post-liver transplantation care is limited to tertiary care centers. Concentration at expert centers leads to high-volume clinics with long wait times and decreased accessibility.

AIM: To assess whether telemedicine can be utilized to overcome barriers to care while sustaining strong patient-physician relationships.

METHODS: The Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire-18, Telemedicine Satisfaction Questionnaire, and Health Utilization Questionnaire were used to assess patient satisfaction and healthcare utilization among patients who received care via video connection (telemedicine group) and in clinic (control group). Propensity matching was performed. Scores for questionnaires were reported as mean and standard deviations (SD) and were compared by one-way multivariate analysis of variance and one-way analysis of variance.

RESULTS: There were 21 matched telemedicine patients in our study. Overall mean age (± SD) was 51 (± 5.62) years and 52 (± 6.12) years for telemedicine group and control group, respectively. General patient satisfaction was similar between the two groups (p = 0.89). While telemedicine patients were just as satisfied with communication and interpersonal approach compared to clinic patients, they experienced significantly less commute (p < 0.0001) and waiting (p < 0.0001) times. Given ease of using telemedicine without compromising patient-physician interaction, 90% (19/21) of the telemedicine patients opted to use the service again.

CONCLUSION: Telemedicine appeared to be both a time and cost-saving alternative to clinic follow-up without compromise of the valuable patient-physician relationship. Telemedicine has the potential to improve clinic flow, reduce wait times, and decrease costs for liver transplant recipients.